NSU's clinical coordinator: the person who approves your preceptor and site

Who holds the role: "Coordinator - Clinical Services"

The Nursing Student Handbook uses the plain term "clinical coordinator," and in one sentence the plural, "clinical coordinators." ACON's people directory uses the HR title "Coordinator - Clinical Services." When we checked the directory in September 2026, four people held that title. Three of them are also listed as Assistant Professor - Nursing, and the fourth also manages the college's nursing simulation and skills lab.

That detail shapes how you work with them. Most coordinators teach as well, so placement questions share their week with courses and students, and a short message that holds everything they need gets the quicker answer.

NSU does not publish which coordinator covers which track, campus or region; your program director can tell you. Once you know, keep every placement message to that coordinator in a single SharkMail thread.

What the coordinator confirms and approves

Every proposal gets two checks. The preceptor has to meet NSU's requirements for clinical supervision, and the site has to give you the kind of practice the course is built around. The handbook then settles who decides in one line: "Clinical site and preceptor are approved by clinical coordinators."

Neither standard is spelled out in public. NSU keeps its preceptor criteria in the graduate clinical guide, which it does not post online, and the site standard rests on what each clinical course is built to teach. Our preceptor requirements page separates what is public from what is not, and clinical site requirements covers the setting side.

At a Florida site, the coordinator's review comes on top of the state's own rule on who may precept a nurse practitioner student. A preceptor who fails Florida's rule is very unlikely to pass NSU's review, so run the state check before you send a name.

Missed clinical days go to the coordinator too

The coordinator stays in the loop after hours begin. Under the handbook, an APRN student who cannot make a planned clinical day informs the site and the clinical coordinator. A separate rule for all graduate students asks for two hours' warning to your preceptor, the site and your program director ahead of a missed clinical, and every absence has to be made up.

Taken together, one missed day means four notices: preceptor, site, program director and clinical coordinator. Send them in writing, keep the time stamp, and suggest a make-up date in the same message so the conversation starts from a plan. The clinical absences page covers make-up planning and why religious holidays do not excuse clinical hours.

How to work well with your clinical coordinator

1. Write earlySend the proposal once a preceptor agrees rather than on the last possible day. An early proposal leaves room to replace a preceptor who does not fit.
2. Send it completeGive the coordinator what the two checks need: the preceptor's full name, credentials, license type and license state, specialty and patient population, plus the site's name, address and setting. Name the clinical course by number, for example NSG 5549 or NSG 5719.
3. Tie it to the courseSay in a sentence why the setting fits: a busy family practice for NSG 5559, an inpatient medicine service for NSG 5639. You are making the coordinator's case for them.
4. Use SharkMail onlyNSU requires university email for university business. One thread per course keeps the record in one place and dated.
5. Report changes the same dayA preceptor who leaves, a site that adds a requirement or a schedule that shifts is news the coordinator needs before the course, not during it.
6. Keep patient details outNSU forbids sending protected health information to any email address outside NSU. Placement messages never need patient details, so leave them out entirely.